Venice Christian School Summer Reading List 2016-17 Middle and High School Objective: Summer Reading is assigned to increase reading comprehension, critical thinking skills and the enjoyment of reading. Directions: Students must read two or more books for a total of 400 + pages. Students need to read at least one book from the attached list that they have not read before. Other books may be student choice as long as it is grade appropriate. All books need to be approved by parents. Please record the books that are read on the log found at the end of this list. Parents/guardians must sign to affirm that their student has read each of the books. In addition, students are required to complete, with page numbers, the “Book Challenge Bookmark” attached to this packet (last page). When the student returns to school, he/she should be prepared with a complete project on one of the books and to take an Accelerated Reader quiz. Grading: Students will receive 100 or 150 points for completing the bookmark and one of these assignments on the book of their choice. The signed reading log is required to receive these points. Due: All reading projects and AR quizzes are to be completed by Friday, September 16, 2016. Students may take as many AR quizzes as books they read. Extra AR quizzes will go toward AR Store rewards during the school year.
6th – 12th Grade Reading Project Assignments - Choose One Assignment Choice #1 for 100 Points Choose a book you will read this summer and . . . 1. Draw a map of the setting. 2. Write a short-short story stating what the character(s) would be doing one year later (3 paragraphs). 3. Imagine you could interview the protagonist. What three questions would you ask? 4. Write a short book review – 3 paragraphs. (1introduction, 2 - describe the book, 3 – your review.
Assignment Choice #2 for 150 Points Add the following to choice #1 and take it to the next level… 1. Choose two people or characters from two different books who you think would be great friends. Why? (Minimum 3 paragraphs) 2. Choose one book location or setting to live in for a week – it can be fiction or nonfiction. Which book would you choose and why? (3 paragraphs) 3. Take a photo of the cover of every book and article you read. Create a photo collage or animated trailer (Free like Animoto might be a fun choice).
Remember: Spelling, form, word choice and neatness counts!
Good & Great Reads For Summer 2016 for 6th – 9th “We read to know we are not alone.” – C.S. Lewis Bible – Any book in the Bible that is 25 chapters or more. Absolutely Truly: A Pumpkin Falls Mystery The Green Ember Tiger Boy Walking Home Arcady’s Goal The Boys of the Blur Al Capone Does My Shirts The Secret Garden The Red Wall Series No Excuses – NF sports Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad Julie of the wolves Blue Fingers: A Ninja’s Tale Shadow of a Bull Rifles for Watie Julie of the Wolves The Big Sky Bridge to Teribetha Hatchet Soul Surfer Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Anderson 100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson (6th grade) & Ashtown Burials (upper middle school) The View from Saturday The Shakespeare Stealer Chronicles of Narnia Old Yeller Tuck Everlasting My Father’s Dragon Escape from Warsaw Summer of the Monkeys The Trumpet of the Swans The Phantom Tollbooth The Waltons go to Birmingham The Pigman Tuck Everlasting Freak the Mighty 20,000 Leagues under the Sea Swiss Family Robinson Lincoln: A Photo biography Black Ships before Troy Homecoming The red Pony
Kidnapped Bud and Me The Eagle of the Ninth The Hawk that does not Hunt by Day Flight of the Eagles Hunger Games series The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood Truth Slayers and Truth Twisters Series The Homelanders Series and all young adult books by Klaven (7th & 8th) Dream House Kings series by Liparulo The Shadow series Diary of Anne Frank – Holocaust (mature girls) Homecoming by Cynthia Voight (older middle) Charlottes Web Farewell to Manzanar Soft Rain (8th & up) Fat Men from Space Caddie Woodlawn 500 Balloons The Boy in the Strip Pajamas – Holocaust Sarah, Plain, and Tall Heidi Rascal The Devil’s Arithmetic – Holocaust Prims by Wambu Tin Tin in America Amos Fortune, Free Man Journey Through the Night (if you can find – out of print) The Emerald Atlas Wild Trek - Kjelgaard Rogue Crew The Red Wall series Tarzan books Sounder The Red Pony Red Hugh, Prince of Donegal Little Women Books by Peretti, Decker, L’Engle, Hinton Nonfiction books by D’aulaire, Gail Gibbons, and David Macaulay Shipwrecked at the Bottom of the World: The Extraordinary True Story of Shackleton
High School Summer Reads for 2016 Bible – Any book in the Bible that has 25 chapters or more. (Some of the following books are newer and recommended by Word Magazine) Titans American Born Chinese The Poe Estate Sorta Like A Rock Star Sumphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and The Last Summer of the Death Warriors the siege of Leningrad The Knife of Never Letting Go A Hear Revealed Divergent Series Faker: How to Live for Real When You’re Tempted to 16th Summer Ultraviolet Fake It NF The Adoration of Jenna Fox The Skin Map, The Bone House & Byzantium by Stephan Lawhead The Sweetest Thing The Best American Sports Writing – Jane Leavy Promises to Keep Singer Triology – Calvin miller Coming Back Stronger, Halfback tough – football Intentional Walk, Rob Rains Brave Dragons – Chinese basketball Who’s on Worst? Bondy Speak The Guns of Naverone Banner in the Sky NF The Boys of Summer NF – Baseball Fabiola or The Church of the Catacombs NF Soul Surfer NF Let’s Roll (9/11) Guns of Navarone All’s Quiet on the Western Front Something Beautiful for God NF Answers for Difficult Days, David Quine Soft Rain Fairy tales by Hans Christian Anderson Emma Hitler’s Cross by Lutzer NF God’s Smuggler: Brother Andrew NF Band of Brothers by Ambrose NF The Begotten – Lisa Bergrens Unspoken – Angela Hunt Babylon (a graphic type novel on Daniel) Jaybar Crow, Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry The Begotten – Lisa Bergren Ribbon of Years – Robin Lee Hatcher (romance) A Lasting Impression (romance) Blue Moon Promise (romance) Mine is the Night (romance) Predator, Blackstock The Shunning (Amish) Babylon, (Graphic Novel) Jesus & Paul, Wangerin A Separate Peace Their Eyes were Watching God Jewel Sarah Plain and Tall Watership Down The Good Earth The Virginian The Robe The Light in the Forest Lord of the Rings The Sacket series Ivanhoe The Sea Wolf Animal Farm
Tears of a Tiger The Book Thief – Holocaust The Boy in the Strip Pajamas – Holocaust A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court Girlof the Limberlost The 39 Steps Hiroshima The Chosen Amusing Ourselves to Death – NF Hollywood World Views – NF Radical –NF Kon Tikki – NF (Soon to be a movie) Who Made God – Zacharias – NF 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Covey – NF Jayne Eyre (750 words that show up on the SAT’s) The Three Musketeers Robinson Crusoe Lost Horizon Into Thin Air NF C.S. Lewis Space Trilogy King Solomon’s Ring Killer Angels (Civil War) Ghost Soldiers Quo Vadis? Black Ships before Troy Emma, Jane Austin Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries by Dorothy Sayers Les Miserable Martian Chronicles Mere Christianity NF 1984 Cost of Discipleship, Bonhoeffer Of Mice and Men Portrait of Dorian Grey The Cross and the Switchblade NF End of the Spear NF Blue Like Jazz NF Run Baby Run NF Through Gates of Splendor NF Christy The Call of the Wild Same Kind of Different as Me Ashtown Burials, N.D. Wilson Freakonomics (NF)
The Invisible Man The War of the World The Time Machine The Count of Monte Cristo The Man in the Iron Mask Alice in Wonderland Through the Looking Glass Seven Men who rule the World from the Grave, David Breese (Good Intro to world philosophies) NF Rooms (If you read The Shack this is equally creative, but with better theology) Vienna Prelude (WWII Christian Romance – part of the Zion Chronicles) One Tuesday Morning – Kingsbury (story based on 9/11) Deadline, Dominion, Deception – detective trio by Randy Alcorn, Also try Safely Home Redeeming Love and Atonement Child, Rivers (Realistic romance) Tilt- A- Whirl – N.D. Wilson (Christian Life – delightful, especially if you are a wordsmith) Sophie’s World (easy way to learn about the world’s different philosophies)
How VCS Screens Books for Objectionable Material and Language Thank you to HCA for crafting the Bob Jones summary for use.
As students reach the middle and high school reading levels, language, violence and romantic entanglements can become problematic for teachers, parents, and students. The three criteria used to screen books and literature considered for inclusion on the summer reading list are specified in the essay, “Classroom Censorship” from Bob Jones University which explains the criteria as follows: 1. Gratuitousness – is the representation of evil purposeful or is it present for its own sake? 2. Explicitness – Is the representation of evil, if purposeful, present in an acceptable degree? Or is it more conspicuous or vivid than the purpose warrants? Is the censorable material too potent to serve well as a negative example? 3. Moral tone – is evil presented from a condemning perspective? Is it made to appear both dangerous and repulsive? What is the attitude of the work toward it? Will the censorable material be presented emphatically as a negative example? Will what it portrays appear dangerous and repulsive regardless of the author’s intention? As always, you know your student and what they should read. These diverse titles are picked carefully, thoughtfully and prayerfully for summer reading. They are not all Christian works of literature. Some are good books (well written). Some are great books (well written with important, impacting ideas that have passed the test of time). Christian themes are recognizable, even if that was not the author’s intent. . These books talk of the fears, hopes, joys, frustrations people experience. They are books about people not only as they are but as they can be. Students should examine, analyze and understand themes, characters and plots using God’s word to light their path of discovery.
VCS SUMMER READING LOG Directions: Students are required to do the following: 1. 2. 3. 4.
Read 400 plus pages from a novel on the reading list and any other novel approved by parents. Your project is on a book from the list. Fill out and turn in a reading log to your Language Arts teacher on September 16 th. All novels included on the reading log must be completed.
Grading: Students will receive up to 150 points. .
Reading Log Book Title
Author
# of pages
Parent Signature
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________ By signing below, you are giving your word that the log is true and accurate. Student Signature_____________________________________________________
Book Challenge Investigation Bookmark Name:________________________________ Title: _________________________________ List the page number and a brief reminder of the details from the book you find as you read. You can use these details in your response to the challenge. p. ___________________________________ p. ___________________________________ p.___________________________________ p. ___________________________________ p. ___________________________________ p.___________________________________ p.___________________________________ p. __________________________________ p. ___________________________________ p. ___________________________________ p. ___________________________________ p. ___________________________________ p. ___________________________________ p. ___________________________________ p. ___________________________________ p. ___________________________________ Additional notes (make copies or use back if needed): Copyright 2004, NCTE/IRA. All Rights Reserved.
